Runaway
by Ikaroraki
Summary: A wild world awaits a young girl named Renee who sets off on the journey of a lifetime full of hardship and struggle to find her best friend, Whitney.
1. Rain

**This is the first fan fiction I have ever written. I do hope you enjoy it :)**

I have never struggled so hard in my life just to get mud off of my boots. I had spent nearly an hour in the downpour getting fresh mud caked onto myself walking from the city after missing the bus. If it was sunny out I wouldn't have minded but Mother Nature thought it would be a good idea to water the town of Firaland today. I don't blame her entirely, considering the town has been dry for almost a week. But of course, the day the rain comes is the day I miss the bus. Luckily I wore my boots today. Huh, "lucky" is a word I've rarely ever used.

A loud knock at the door broke my concentration on the muddy boots before me. I set them down and continued to the door in question as I wasn't expecting anyone today. I opened the door to see a troubled wolf standing before me. Daisy shirt, blue jeans, smooth fur, and pearly whites you'd think twice about before crossing. In her hand was a shopping bag full of clothes and in her eyes an endless pool of sorrow. Before I could even say a word she spoke.

"R-Renee can I s-spend t-the night?" She rushed, failing at not trying to stumble. Her body began to tremble as if she had seen a Wisp. Her once pointed ears grew flaccid as the rain pelted down and her depression surrounded her very being.

"Why of course you may, Whitney. What troubles you?" I asked her. She stared at me as if she hadn't seen me in forever then proceeded to look behind herself as if she were being followed. She didn't answer: she just stared. "Alright well come on in before the storm gets worse."

I shut the door as a flash of lightning lit up the iridescent room. Whitney stumbled about and set her items next to the couch before falling to the cushions in tears. I slowly crept to her aid, unsure of what was to happen next.

"Oh Renee I just can't t-take it anymore!" Whitney shouted as she threw herself deep into a pillow. I sat down by her side and placed my hand on her shoulder. She began to shake and her breathing became troubled, constantly inhaling.

"Whitney what's wrong?" I asked in the sweetest voice. She inhaled a large gasp of air and turned to me with her face as red as one of Joann's famous red turnips. But unlike a turnip, her face wasn't filled with joy.

"Renee…I'm running away…" She told me. Her face, red as a red turnip, and my face, pale as a white one. Many questions filled my mind and being the subject that it was I asked them all right away.

"What? Why? Where? When? What about me? Kiki? Opal? Where are you going to stay?" I raced to get them all answered when she stopped me.

"I just can't take this life anymore. This town is just the same thing over and over day in and day out and with my parents gone and Chief far away I just can't take this place anymore!" She explained as she sat up and fell into my arms.

"What about me?" I asked, feeling left out.

"That's what makes this decision so hard to make! I lost my only parents, the love of my life, and now I'm going to be saying goodbye to my greatest friend: you! I don't want to but running away is the only thing that will fix me right now, as hard as it is." She explained.

"You know everyone is going to miss you."

"I know…and that's why I want to run away. A formal move would just get everyone's immediate attention and saying goodbye is just too hard to do!" Whitney burst back into tears and buried herself in my arms. I held her tight, trying to keep myself from crying.

"Would…would you like some tea?" I offered, trying to change the subject to calm her. From the side I could see her smile a bit as she confirmed. "Alright I will be right back." I slowly got up, releasing her. As I walked to the kitchen she stared into space, pondering over her decision.

For the rest of the night we stayed up, recalling our past and drinking tea. We told stories about our neighbors and the many exciting adventures we all went on. We giggled from the many tales from the kitchen we shared; from our first pie we made that almost burned my house down to the wonderful dinner we cooked last week. As we told our stories and talked the lightning outside grew stronger and the storm fiercer but the glow of a strong friendship seemed to make the storm less noticeable. The dark room later made us dreary so we both decided to set up our sleeping bags and go to bed. I laid there in my bag parallel to hers and looked into her eyes wishing her a goodnight. She replied the same and smiled to me. I watched as she closed her eyes and drifted off into a slumber. When I woke up, her sleeping bag was cold and her luggage was missing. I sat up to look around only to notice that the rain had stopped, the sun was shining, and a note addressed to me was left in her place.

**Hope you enjoyed the first chapter! Feel free to leave a review, comments and critic are always welcome.**


	2. Understanding

**It took several rewrites but I finally managed. I'll be honest, I had major writers block and had no idea where to go with this chapter. After 5 different scenarios I decided upon this one as it had the most potential. Sorry for the wait, hope you enjoy!**

I sat at the kitchen table, slowly sipping my coffee as I tried to hold in my tears. I looked over at the letter she left me, now sitting besides the salt and pepper shakers waiting for this wandering soul to awaken the sorrow inscribed within. I set my coffee down and grasped the letter in my hand. I studied the handwriting, trying to remember her.

"I can't believe she's…she's gone." I whispered to myself. All of a sudden there was a knock at my door. I raced to it with hope in my heart that it'd be Whitney unsure of the decision she made so she raced back here to stay here forever and be my closest friend again. Perhaps we would go on a picnic, out to a movie, or just stay inside and talk all day as we watch shows neither of us can understand. A sharp pain hit my heart as I realized those words were just fantasy and tears began to pour down my face as the sorrow set in. I opened the door, as Apollo greeted me.

"Oh, hello Renee. It seems Pete mixed our mail up again so I got your HRA newsletter and…" He informed, as his face grew into an uncomfortable look. I don't blame him, I'd feel awkward too if I went to visit someone and they were crying their eyes out. He stood there in silence looking at me. "Are you alright, Renee?" He asked. I wanted to tell him everything was just fine that I'd just stubbed my toe or some other complete lie like that just to drive him away.

"Yeah Apollo everything is fine!" I told him whilst showcasing the world's cheesiest grin. He chuckled slightly and handed me my mail.

"Maybe Opal knows what's up…" He whispered to himself as he walked away. Great, just what I need is an investigation. I let go of the mail on the end table near the door as I headed inside.

For over the next few hours I caught a glimpse of life outside while wiping away tears and drinking coffee. From what I saw I can tell you Purrl had went shopping at the Able Sisters, Antonio bought a couch from Nook, and Opal picked cherries from a tree. That was pretty much it but something had caught my eye. I looked over by the Museum to see a strange figure lurking about. From what I could tell they were human and they were looking for something. I had never seen them before in this town and no one seemed to notice them, only me.

I stood behind Maple's house trying to get a glimpse of the person and hoping Maple wouldn't blow my cover; wondering what I was up to. I watched as he searched all about through bushes, trees, and eventually the river where he poked into the waters with a stick.

"Where is that darn thing? Ugh, it's got to be somewhere around here!" He mumbled to himself.

"Excuse me…are you looking for something?" I asked as I approached him. He turned to me with a look full of angst. His No. 1 shirt was all muddy and a bit of his shorts torn. His shoes collected dirt as he stumbled about and his face did the same, a single, small cut on his left check.

"Who, me? Ah, I just shot a balloon down and it landed all the way over here! Now I can't find it." He confirmed as he continued to poke the river water. I chuckled a bit, my face clearing up from the crying.

"You like you could use some help, and a bath." I jokingly answered. He smirked and continued his search.

"Well after a whole day of extreme bug hunting and walking through thick bush just to find a present doesn't really equal a clean body. If you really want to help, then you can-" He lost balance from his crouching and trembled into the water. I gasped and raced to the river as air bubbles stopped floating to the top. I stood there in worry, unsure of what to do. All of a sudden a small shadow became visible and eventually grew until he rose from the water, wrapped package in hand.

"I-I knew it was i-in h-here!" He said as he gasped for air, coughing. He helped himself up onto the land and shook his head, throwing water all about. "Finally! I've been looking for you everywhere! Why did you have to be so hard to find?" He talked to himself. I just stood there awkwardly, unsure of what to do or say.

"Uh, are you okay?" I burst out.

"Me? Yeah I'm just fine! I found my present and got a free bath. I may be wet but I sure am happy." He answered. He giggled on and on as he inspected the present he had finally found. I felt bad for him considering more rain was on the way and he was already soaking wet. So I made a stupid decision and invited the stranger into my house to dry. He accepted the offer gladly and gathered his things as we walked to my house. On the way there we chatted; just telling each other our names and talking about the bad weather lately.

"Well this is my house. I'll go get you some towels, Ethan," I offered, "so just make yourself at home." I walked into the hallway to get to the closet where I kept my clean towels. Opening the closet I grabbed a few towels off the shelf and headed over to Ethan to see him snooping about. He was wandering around, checking out my living room and lifting up papers and things to see what was up.

"Cool map." He said, "Where did you get a map like this?" I had no idea what he was talking about, honestly. I never kept any maps except the one on the fridge of the town. I walked over to see what was up, setting down the towels as he helped himself to them.

"This is strange. I don't recall owning a map like this. Looks like someone just stringed together a bunch of maps." I inspected the map carefully. There were several town maps taped together to all fold neatly into a smaller piece of paper. Names of towns were highlighted and the words "possible" were written above several towns. Even the Downtown was highlighted, somewhere I had never even been. The words "Must find him" were scribbled on the side and that was when it hit me. It was Whitney's map. And what worried me was that she was lost without it.

"Thanks for the towels. Hey, what's wrong?" Ethan questioned as he saw me break down into tears. My heart was literally sinking. Not only was she gone but she was lost. She mustn't of known she forgot it here when she left otherwise she would have came back for it.

"My friend she…ran away and forgot her map. Now she's even more lost…who knows where she is or…how she is." I fell to my knees in sorrow, tears blinding my vision of the world before me and my crying deafening my hearing. Ethan knelt down to me, hand on my shoulder. "Hey don't t-touch me!" I yelled at him. He jumped back, arms akimbo.

"Jeez, just trying to comfort you. I know how you feel. I had a friend run away once. His name was Chief; said he was looking for some girl." He explained. My crying stopped. I got up and looked at Ethan.

"Chief? Was he a Wolf? Brown and white fur?" I questioned so eagerly. Ethan looked at me funny.

"Yeah. You know him?"

"He used to live here. He moved out awhile ago for no reason and now my friend Whitney ran away to go find him or something."

"Whitney? Oh so that's who that is! Chief mentioned her once, wouldn't shut up about her. He said he missed her so he went to go find her and hasn't been back in a long time. " He explained. We went on to talk about the two to try and decipher the mystery surrounding. As it turns out Chief and Whitney lived here together, that much I knew. For some reason Chief left and moved to Reeseville where Ethan lives. After awhile he said he missed Whitney and went to find her, eventually going missing. Whitney finally snapped and also ran away to go find him, both of them are now looking for each other. I'm guessing the words "possible" on the map signify places Chief might be.

"Wow…she's on a wild goose chase practically. Unless, they meet up by some coincidence." I inferred. I was worried about Whitney and I could tell Ethan was somewhat worried about Chief. He hadn't gotten to know him very well but he could tell Whitney was important to him.

"So what do we do? We can't just let them wander off aimlessly, can we?" Ethan insisted on going on an adventure. I look at him, not wanting to contribute to the search as I felt it was hopeless to be looking all over for her. But it was Whitney, and I just knew I had to regardless of the circumstances.

"You're right, we have to find them. We wouldn't even know where to start, though." I explained as a knock at the door interrupted me. I excused myself from Ethan and proceeded to the doorway to see Apollo and Opal waiting. "Oh, hello everyone. May I help you?" I asked.

"Renee, Apollo told me about earlier. Is everything alright?" Opal asked. I looked over to Apollo, seeing the softness in his eyes. He tended to keep to himself and not get involved with things but something drove him to report my actions to Opal, a friend of mine. He made the right choice. I backed away a bit to reveal Ethan, who was sitting there with a towel around his neck.

"Come on in. I will explain everything."

It was about seven o'clock when the rain started to come in. I had told Apollo and Opal about Ethan, then about Chief and Whitney and how she ran away and instructed the two to tell the others while Ethan and I come up with a plan of attack to find her. I looked outside to see the torrential downpour lightly flooding the streets and depressing the trees then over to Ethan, now dry as firewood and fiddling with things in his backpack. He watched as I went upstairs and returned with a sleeping bag.

"What's that for?" He wondered.

"I can't let you walk home in the rain so you'll have to spend the night here. You can sleep there on the couch, since you already broke it in my soaking it with river water."I insisted.

"Sounds good to me." He agreed as he put the wrapped gift aside. This was the first time I had ever seen someone so eager to get a gift and then not ever open it.

"Are you going to open that gift?" I wondered.

"Not just yet. I like opening things when I feel the time is right so I'm saving it for later." He explained as he set it aside. Something was off about him but it was in a good way. I wouldn't really say I had a crush on him, just more of an interest. I giggled randomly like an idiot and proceeded to the kitchen as an awkward look overtook his face.

"Do you want anything to eat?" I offered.

"Well that's nice of you to offer. Of course I'll eat, after a day like I've had what with all the bugs and things I caught." He boasted.

For the rest of the night we talked about for a really long time before heading off to bed. I lay awake in my bed and stared at the ceiling wondering if Whitney was alright. I could just imagine her; scared, alone, and lost somewhere in a big city. I grabbed my pillow tight and tried so hard to fall asleep, failing each time. The thought of Whitney gone disturbed me but the idea that we shared the same sky no matter how far away we were comfort me.


End file.
